‘Tis another year & another
attempt at changing my life, in some ways. We put so much emphasis on things we
would like to do and things that we should do better, but honestly, based on
statistics, we tend to fail within weeks or even days of doing so. What we
really need to think about is how we could leave the negative in our lives.
With that in mind we could focus on the positive things. To quote the ‘Life of
Brian’, the song goes, “Always look on
the bright side of life.”
Before I list my New Year’s
Resolution, here is a read:
Alright, my list isn’t perfect but it’s a start!
· Do better in
university
My 1st
year was rather ephemeral and I got a first honours position, but I feel the
start of my 2nd year could have been better. This is due to the
plethora of extracurricular activities I participate in, such as sports and
societies. Also, I made more friends and reinforced my bonds with acquaintances
which meant I have more ‘social’ potential – sadly, this lead to me focusing on
that rather than more hours sitting in the library with my eyes on the book.
There is nothing wrong with socialising, but I mustn’t keep that a priority. After
all, I’m in university for one thing – to further my career.
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| This is what my desk looks like during revision nights |
· Be in a
relationship
London has
given me friends that have been informative with regards to living here and ‘loving’
here. The life of a gay man in London can be seen as somewhat flamboyant and
reckless. Thankfully, I am neither of those.
For a long
time I thought to myself that being single is a good thing. I’m at that age
where I see my friends all hitched, whereas I am stuck in the dating game. I
have to try harder to find a boyfriend, but not be desperate for one. I need to
have a taste of what it feels like to be in a committed relationship. For me to
have experienced a one-way love was warmly comforting, but edged more towards
the delusional and painful. I’m looking for a perfect guy, as I know he doesn’t
exist and emphasis on having similarities and similar tastes in whatever aspect
of life is, to be frank, in my honest opinion, is stupid and picky. Having
dated a few men, all I can say is that providing the man has a kind persona, memorable
charisma and is passionate; to me those attributes will suffice.
There is
still one man who I have yet to let go. His name shall not be spoken, however,
to those of you wondering…well…all I can say is…he is the man I would give my
whole life to, but I’m starting to realise that it may never come to that. Nevertheless,
I see him everywhere. The places in London we’ve been to or have walked passed;
the food we ate, the bars we had a pint in, the cafés where we had our profound
chats in, the museums we visited, the sport we both loved…the bed we shared for
that special moment. I know it will take me some time to heal, but one thing I
wish is for those memories to be etched in my mind, as he is one truly special
man.
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| My friend's nail art for the London LGBT pride - emphasis on Equal Love |
· Be fitter
The first
semester of this academic year was a good start in terms of getting physically
fitter. I’m part of my university’s mixed Lacrosse team, I play badminton and
volleyball recreationally on bi-weekly basis and I practice Capoeira. So why is
this on my list? Well ‘to be fitter’ is a rather ambiguous statement to make. I
need to go to the gym and add more weight and make healthier options when it
comes to meal times. I’ve always been skinny my whole life. I don’t hate my
body image, I just want to be seen as the conventional idea of masculine, in
other words – MUSCLES! I have this fascination with the human physique, but
more so with the male form than the female form. For years I’ve laboured to
amass information on how to put on weight, do gym exercises and eat right. It
is only during last semester that I’ve started to benefit on that work – that
is probably because I FINALLY have a gym subscription. I have set myself on
regular training schedule and doing the same sort of exercises to hit my
targets. All I need to do now is stick to it and avoid plateaus. Remember,
consistency is the key to workout goals!
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| Sexy Santa Helper? |
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| Badminton practice |
· Become an early
birdie
Everyone who
knows me knows that I am a night owl. Upon typing this blog post, I have been
awake for just over an hour – I woke up at 15:00. :P
This has
been a challenge for me since my teenage years. I just can’t seem to sleep
right. MY sleeping patterns are off the charts, to the extremes in fact – oversleeping
or under-sleeping, yet feeling replenished pretty much on every waking
occasion. Being a biomedical science student, I have access to the latest research
on things human-related. My neuroscience friends tell me the importance of
sleep and keeping to it could change my life. I must do more to try and sleep
by 10pm and wake up at around 7am. I need to do this so that I can be efficient
during the weekdays. If I don’t, I would miss lectures, be lethargic, miss
personal deadlines on studying/revision etc.
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| I can heard this beast gong from where I live every night |
There are other things I have in my
mind for NYR, but to me these 4 are the most important ones. I didn’t want to
list trivial stuff such as - be tidier (which I already am anyways), spend less
money, read more books, travel more yadayadayada. To me NYR’s are supposed to
be the major changes I would like to see accomplished in the year ahead. I
think 4 good ones are enough of a challenge.
I shall keep you all informed on the
task ahead. I think my readers should have a nickname…’bits and nibbles’ is
rather fitting. Anywho, I hope to see you in the future J.
All photos are copyrighted material of Rizen Tablada.
